Bossier City, LA Noise Ordinances: Barking Dogs (2026)

Section 14-61 defines excessive barking as unprovoked animal noise of a loudness, intensity, and duration that prevents or interferes with a person's ability to enjoy their property, expressly including situations where the barking has, on more than one occasion, woken the complainant from sleep, or where it continues in a manner causing mental anguish, loss of sleep, or a disturbance of the peace. The definition doesn't rest on a decibel meter; it turns on the effect on a neighbor.

Enforcement runs through section 14-63(c)'s public nuisance provision, which folds excessive or untimely barking, crying, howling, or yelping that disturbs the peace and quiet or health and repose of a neighborhood's residents into the same public-nuisance category as animals attacking passersby, chasing vehicles, or repeatedly running at large. Any person authorized by the Animal Control Division is treated as a bona fide complainant, which lets the department, not only the annoyed neighbor, initiate a case. An owner found guilty of maintaining such a nuisance is guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to the penalties of section 1-9.

Beyond the standard fine, a judge in a court of competent jurisdiction who finds a public nuisance exists can order a reduction in the number of animals an owner keeps, or impose whatever reasonable restrictions on keeping animals the judge deems necessary to eliminate or mitigate the nuisance, a remedy aimed squarely at repeat or chronic barking complaints rather than a one-time incident.